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 Mentlegen324 wrote:

 Manfred von Drakken wrote:
Given that GW has explicitly stated in at least two editions of the Dark Angels codex that the Lion is healed up and finishing up his nap, the Lion making a return really should be read as inevitable, especially in light of Guilliman's return.

No, that is not something placed there as a hint at future events. It's something just to add interest in the same way so many other bits of lore hint or suggest something more but are never intended to actually lead to anything.

It's been there since at least 6th edition, potentially earlier.

Luther being released from the Rock during the Wrath of Magnus is the most recent narrative hook for the return of the Lion and that was 2 editions ago.

And Russ has been promising to return for the Wolftime for how long now?

Dudeface wrote:
Copying this over from B&C where Valrak has dropped the following:

Hello everyone, you may have already seen my video on the subject but thought I'd share it here as well. Hearing that next year leading up the launch of the new Edition are going to be some pretty big HQ reveals. Listed them below:

Dante
Azrael
Farsight
Named Daemon Prince
And the edition is then supposed to wrap up with the return of the Lion. Again, take them for what they are, as I always say, just because I trust the source doesn't mean you have to.

Given the source I'm not entirely convinced this is true; but if it is then one possibility could be an expansion focused on DA vs Fallen, with Azrael & Daemon Prince Marbas. That would lead neatly into the Lion.

Surprised Valrak wasn't gobbing on and on about the return of Dorn, as that's his thing.

What's with the unnamed Daemon Prince? You can get the others by just going through the list of characters without an upgraded model. Makes it kind of hard to believe if the most out there thing is the one without any specifics.

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
And Russ has been promising to return for the Wolftime for how long now?

Not long enough. Cawl made Primaris. The Imperium is dandy now and the Wolftime's been called off.

Valrak has negative credibility, him repeating a rumour makes it automatically less likely to be true.

 Mentlegen324 wrote:
Has Valrak ever provided a rumour (that wasn't already mentioned or easy to guess) that then turned out to be true?

Pretty much never, unless you count him repeating something actually reliable source said earlier. But he sure makes every video drag and drag on till he hits these youtube time thresholds for extra ads and monetization...

 Mentlegen324 wrote:
The Horus Miniature that was a pretty safe guess considering the end of the Heresy

Yup. He tends to make such 'safe' guesses a lot, he promised Lion/Dorn since start of 8th and for a time repeated third Calth like box is near till he quietly gave up on this several years ago. Maybe he got more accurate recently, dunno, but he was usually wrong about literally every guess in the past.

Dudeface wrote:
The timing is the relevant factor here, he was specific and at the right time.

Not really, GW ran out of primarchs to do and guessing next is corrupted Horus was trivial after seeing what two forces are posterboys of new HH, because doing second Dorn so soon after the first would make no sense.

 Irbis wrote:

 Mentlegen324 wrote:
Has Valrak ever provided a rumour (that wasn't already mentioned or easy to guess) that then turned out to be true?

Pretty much never, unless you count him repeating something actually reliable source said earlier. But he sure makes every video drag and drag on till he hits these youtube time thresholds for extra ads and monetization...

 Mentlegen324 wrote:
The Horus Miniature that was a pretty safe guess considering the end of the Heresy

Yup. He tends to make such 'safe' guesses a lot, he promised Lion/Dorn since start of 8th and for a time repeated third Calth like box is near till he quietly gave up on this several years ago. Maybe he got more accurate recently, dunno, but he was usually wrong about literally every guess in the past.

Dudeface wrote:
The timing is the relevant factor here, he was specific and at the right time.

Not really, GW ran out of primarchs to do and guessing next is corrupted Horus was trivial after seeing what two forces are posterboys of new HH, because doing second Dorn so soon after the first would make no sense.

I had a quick look at some of the stuff he supposedly got "right" and even then they're vague. In 2020 he said that a Primaris Helbracht was coming and he "had a foot on a rock" which...doesn't say much, really. I can't figure out if the box set rumours were already around at that point to suggest Black Templars were coming, but a Primaris version of their biggest/most Important character is not a stretch by any means (especially when they only have like 2 characters in the first place) , and miniatures standing on rocks are so common that they're a meme. Getting that "right" doesn't really indicate much.

The source Valrak calls Alpharius is consistently right. You being mad about him having a youtube channel doesn't change this.

Knowing GW, the Lion may have been sculpted and done, just waiting to go into production, for years now. So nothing strange with long time rumours.

I think we’ve already seen the Named Deamon Prince

JSG wrote:
The source Valrak calls Alpharius is consistently right. You being mad about him having a youtube channel doesn't change this.

Not every Rumour he makes a video on is from that specific source, though.

So they just confirmed that the first book of Arks of Omen focuses on Abaddon's plans to use space hulks to attack various different factions and he has a new demonic ally. Which meshes with Valrak's rumour (new campaign books, first one focusing on Abaddon, new Daemon character) so adds a little bit of accuracy to it.

EonChao wrote:
So they just confirmed that the first book of Arks of Omen focuses on Abaddon's plans to use space hulks to attack various different factions and he has a new demonic ally. Which meshes with Valrak's rumour (new campaign books, first one focusing on Abaddon, new Daemon character) so adds a little bit of accuracy to it.

That was my take away, it was a little too coincidental and the "reverse indomitus crusade" & "biggest setting change since the galaxy was split" add to a primarch returning imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUdYtU20uPw

Sounds like we know the name (or title?) of the new Dark Mechanicum demon prince.

From what I can hear: "I am ..... the Arkifane, and I've come to offer ....."

Dudeface wrote:

EonChao wrote:
So they just confirmed that the first book of Arks of Omen focuses on Abaddon's plans to use space hulks to attack various different factions and he has a new demonic ally. Which meshes with Valrak's rumour (new campaign books, first one focusing on Abaddon, new Daemon character) so adds a little bit of accuracy to it.

That was my take away, it was a little too coincidental and the "reverse indomitus crusade" & "biggest setting change since the galaxy was split" add to a primarch returning imo.

It's not as if they're done a huge amount that's affected the setting overall in the first place since the Rift though. Even just a "reverse indomitus crusade" already gets it far closer to the biggest change since then than anything else (unless i'm forgetting something). The last big narrative event was what....Vigilus?

 Mentlegen324 wrote:

Dudeface wrote:

EonChao wrote:
So they just confirmed that the first book of Arks of Omen focuses on Abaddon's plans to use space hulks to attack various different factions and he has a new demonic ally. Which meshes with Valrak's rumour (new campaign books, first one focusing on Abaddon, new Daemon character) so adds a little bit of accuracy to it.

That was my take away, it was a little too coincidental and the "reverse indomitus crusade" & "biggest setting change since the galaxy was split" add to a primarch returning imo.

It's not as if they're done a huge amount that's affected the setting overall in the first place since the Rift though. Even just a "reverse indomitus crusade" already gets it far closer to the biggest change since then than anything else (unless i'm forgetting something). The last big narrative event was what....Vigilus?

Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

Dudeface wrote:

 Mentlegen324 wrote:

Dudeface wrote:

EonChao wrote:
So they just confirmed that the first book of Arks of Omen focuses on Abaddon's plans to use space hulks to attack various different factions and he has a new demonic ally. Which meshes with Valrak's rumour (new campaign books, first one focusing on Abaddon, new Daemon character) so adds a little bit of accuracy to it.

That was my take away, it was a little too coincidental and the "reverse indomitus crusade" & "biggest setting change since the galaxy was split" add to a primarch returning imo.

It's not as if they're done a huge amount that's affected the setting overall in the first place since the Rift though. Even just a "reverse indomitus crusade" already gets it far closer to the biggest change since then than anything else (unless i'm forgetting something). The last big narrative event was what....Vigilus?

Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

Exactly. So "The biggest setting change since the galaxy was split" isn't really indicative of that much considering the other big narrative event to compare to is Vigilus.

Dudeface wrote:
Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

To sell miniatures and books?

Dudeface wrote:

 Mentlegen324 wrote:

Dudeface wrote:

EonChao wrote:
So they just confirmed that the first book of Arks of Omen focuses on Abaddon's plans to use space hulks to attack various different factions and he has a new demonic ally. Which meshes with Valrak's rumour (new campaign books, first one focusing on Abaddon, new Daemon character) so adds a little bit of accuracy to it.

That was my take away, it was a little too coincidental and the "reverse indomitus crusade" & "biggest setting change since the galaxy was split" add to a primarch returning imo.

It's not as if they're done a huge amount that's affected the setting overall in the first place since the Rift though. Even just a "reverse indomitus crusade" already gets it far closer to the biggest change since then than anything else (unless i'm forgetting something). The last big narrative event was what....Vigilus?

Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

40k "moving storyline" is just framework for stalemates anyway. That's what you get if you try to force setting for players to make their own stories to moving storyline.

Saturday cartoon.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Dudeface wrote:
Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

To sell miniatures and books?

Well... yes. I meant in terms of the ongoing narrative. Even then I'm still confused that they primaris'd Marneus just to leave him in a state where he could have been put in a dread and maybe just made a dread instead.

Dudeface wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Dudeface wrote:
Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

To sell miniatures and books?

Well... yes. I meant in terms of the ongoing narrative.

Because the narrative needed an Imperial fortress world which is holding open a corridor of realspace against a massive warp storm, which can be the focus of a huge battle between the Imperium and Abaddon's Chaos forces.

It's not like Cadia at all! It's my own creation!

Dudeface wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Dudeface wrote:
Vigilus was such a gigantic stalemate I'm not sure what the point was in honesty.

To sell miniatures and books?

Well... yes. I meant in terms of the ongoing narrative. Even then I'm still confused that they primaris'd Marneus just to leave him in a state where he could have been put in a dread and maybe just made a dread instead.

Chaos comes, imperium fights them away, stand off continues.

 Mentlegen324 wrote:


It's been there since at least 6th edition, potentially earlier.

Since 2nd in one form or another.

GW has always said that the Lion can come out of the closet any time.

Valrak has done a new video, as he feels the Ark Arc is evidence to support the earlier rumours.

He also pointed to this cropped image, which does seem to show Dark Angel iconography.

I'd much prefer if they killed off Azzy and Dante (and most of the named characters tbh). It's very boring that in a setting of never-ending war, a handful of specific guys are functionally immortal. Bonus points for if their deaths were stupid and/or ignominious eg accidentally reversed over by a Land Raider, gets the black rage and opens a spaceship door into the warp etc.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Valrak has done a new video, as he feels the Ark Arc is evidence to support the earlier rumours.

He also pointed to this cropped image, which does seem to show Dark Angel iconography.

I don't think that's dark angels so much as fallen, the bottom of the sword looks like chaos trim.

Dudeface wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Valrak has done a new video, as he feels the Ark Arc is evidence to support the earlier rumours.

He also pointed to this cropped image, which does seem to show Dark Angel iconography.

I don't think that's dark angels so much as fallen, the bottom of the sword looks like chaos trim.

Puh, good spot. So Lion will be retconned to be a fallen/chaos primarch I guess. Was already scared that Loyalists might get another Primarch before Chaos

Dudeface wrote:

I don't think that's dark angels so much as fallen

There's a difference?

Looks more mechanicus/knight than chaos. Iron wing?